While Dave Dye was talking about how the Wings’ greatness actually prevents them from winning personal awards, and Ansar Khan(!) was babbling about the beauty of an extended layoff…we spent the day gnashing teeth and wondering what the hell this team is going to show us in two weeks time.

None of the Diggers, apparently, saw fit to drill down a bit and get to the point: are the Wings ready to defend this thing? Well…Pierre LeBrun apparently thought that was a decent question to ask Mike Babcock.

...losses to the New York Islanders and Nashville Predators in Detroit’s past two games have driven home a somewhat frightening point.

“The message I think that was sent was that we’re not ready yet,” Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock told ESPN.com.

We got that message a long, long time ago Mike. Ansar? You get it yet son? Might want to look into that. We won’t hold our breath.

“My point is that, six games from now, we’re going to play a team that’s been in the playoffs for a month and half. That team will have engaged physically every night for a while now. They’ve had their heart and soul in it. They’ve built momentum. We’ve been in a different scenario. We’ve had another good season; we’ve got 107 points right now, 49 wins, we’ve had good individual numbers. But the reality you and I both know is that they’re going to drop the puck and the team we’re playing is going to battle for every inch of ice.

“There’s no switch to prepare you for that, so we have six games to make a conscious decision that we want to win, and if you make that conscious decision, that means you’re all in.”

-Wings coach Mike Babcock. More on the Wings from Pierre LeBrun at ESPN.

TSN has learned that former NHL player Mike Danton, who has been serving time in a Federal prison in the United States, is back in Canada and could be a free man very shortly.

The Brampton, Ontario native pled guilty to “murder-for-hire” charges in November of 2004. He has served over four years of his seven and a half year sentence in a Minnesota prison. After petitioning to be moved to a Canadian prison, Danton finally got his wish on March 19th as he was transferred to Kingston Penitentiary.

After a nice, long run as a line mate to Marty St. Louis, rookie Steven Stamkos likely will start tonight’s game with the Bruins on a line with Vinny Prospal and Brandon Bochensky. This isn’t just coach Rick Tocchet switching up lines looking for some jump, though after Sunday’s snoozer against the Senators, Tampa Bay could use it.

No, this is Tocchet sending a message to Stamkos to make sure he continues to compete at a high level. He has not done it the past few games, Tocchet said. The punishment is losing St. Louis as a line mate.

“When you play with Marty, that’s a privilege,” Tocchet said. “The message is, ‘If you’re going to play with Marty, you have to compete like he does.’ “

Tis the time of year when everyone seems to be naming their all-star selections (no, not that All-Star Game thingy - that was done by three mischievous kids at MIT with a brilliant binary algorithm) so it seems high time for me to name my all-stars.

And by name I mean NAME all-stars. You know, the kid who might not be able to skate or pass and has hands reminiscent of medium-sized boulders, but he has 15 letters in his last name (three of them Xs) and it’s printed diagonally on his jersey. Or he’s from Upper Sloptovia and has a name that rhymes with rutabaga. Yeah, that’s my kind of player….

Goaltender – Antero Niittymaki (Philadelphia) – You know when you get really drunk and you start to sign your name and you write the first part fairly close to perfect, but then you lose concentration and the last part comes out as a big pile of jumbled letters and reads like inane gibberish? Yeah, Niittymaki.

Defense – Fedor Tyutin (Columbus) – The three best names for clowns I’ve ever heard are (1) Bozo the Clown, (2) Mr. Bubbles, and (3) Fedor Tyutin. Next time he skates by, grab his nose and see if it honks.

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